WASHINGTON, Aug 22 (Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators onWednesday eased the final version of a rule that requiresmanufacturers to disclose whether their products include certainminerals from the war-torn country of the Democratic Republic ofthe Congo.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted 3-2 to approvethe controversial final rule. The reform was mandated by the2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul, but it had beenheld up amid industry criticism that the rule would be tooonerous.

The commission's two Republican commissioners voted againstthe rule and said it fell outside the SEC's mission of investorprotection, despite the reform being required by law.Commissioner Troy Paredes said the agency had not assessed howeffective the rule would be in addressing the crisis in theAfrican country.

The SEC did bend to some industry pleas for flexibility. Thefinal rule gives firms leeway on recycled or scrap minerals theyuse, and provides more time to assess the source of certainminerals such as tin, gold or tungsten.

The SEC is also set to vote on a separate rule later onWednesday that will require oil, gas and mining companies listedin the United States to disclose payments to foreigngovernments, such as drilling or exploration licenses that canrun into billions of dollars.

COST-BENEFIT

The SEC made a point of detailing the costs of the reformsbefore voting on the conflict minerals rule. The agency has seenits rules successfully challenged in court based on allegationsit did not adequately weigh costs and benefits.

An SEC official estimated the total industry-wide cost ofimplementing the new conflict minerals rule for companies wouldbe around $3 billion to $4 billion. The annual cost could runbetween $206 million and $609 million.

"We have taken those critiques very seriously," SECcommissioner Elisse Walter said, referring to the cost-benefitchallenges.

Changes in the final rule that benefited companies includea provision that allows issuers who cannot immediately determinethe source of certain minerals to describe products for twoyears as "conflict undeterminable" rather than "not conflictfree." Smaller companies can use that determination for fouryears.

"The rules we are considering use the same process asproposed, but many of the mechanisms within the process havebeen modified in response to comments," SEC Chairman MarySchapiro said.

FOREIGN PAYMENTS

The resource extraction rule, scheduled for a vote later onWednesday, will apply to any payment to further exploration,extraction, processing, and export of oil, natural gas orminerals or the acquisition of a license for related activity,the SEC said.

It would apply to any payment, including a series of relatedpayments, over $100,000, the SEC said.

The payments that need to be disclosed include taxes androyalties, but also dividends and infrastructure improvements,and other types of fees.

Companies would be required to provide information brokendown by projects, but the rules give companies flexibility indetermining what constitutes a single project.

Companies will be required to report the resource paymentsinformation for fiscal years that end after Sept. 30, 2013.

Companies subject to the conflict minerals rule would haveuntil May 31, 2014, to file the first report.